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Managerial Life
Managerial Life is a fantasy football game on Facebook which ran from 2011 to 2014, before being rebooted as In The Dugout during a portion of 2015 and then reverting back to its original name from June 2016, through to the present day. Managerial Life was formed in 2011 after a former game involving Nick Weston and Harry Mickleburgh was disbanded due to the owner not feeling capable of taking up the responsibilities of running the game. The members from the game wanted to continue the idea though, and Nick and Harry decided to start up their own version of the game as a result. In its lifetime, Managerial Life has hosted 29 league seasons, as well as multiple cup campaigns. Concept Managerial Life's premise involves people joining the Facebook group, selecting a club and then being given a starting budget and a 23 man squad. After this, new members start to incorporate themselves into the game by making transfers with other members, before competing against each other in various leagues and cups across hosted by the MLFA. The MLFA consists of the admins and moderators of the group, who decide when tournaments are hosted and when matches between teams will be played. The matches themselves are carried out by one of the admins sorting out the two teams' lineups on FIFA and then giving control of the game to the computer on FIFA. During a session where games are played, a Facebook Live stream is hosted in the group itself, where the managers involved in the match can make changes at any point during the match, including formation changes, substitutions, set piece takers and changing players' positions. Tournaments and Structure Leagues Managerial Life's domestic season involves leagues which every team qualifies for due to the finishing place of that manager in the previous season. The amount of leagues Managerial Life has often varies, depending on how many active managers there are at the time of the league season starting. At most, three leagues will be run at any one time, with the leagues in question being Premiership, Championship and League 1. Managerial Life has also hosted an ML Super League in the past. This was mostly due for special ocassions, such as the 25 Season Special, although this format was also used for two of the most recent leagues, with every single manager participating in the setup. Cups During the course of Managerial Life, there has been two main cup competitions: the Managerial Life Cup (ML Cup) and the Champions Cup. The ML Cup is a knockout tournament, which has also made use of group stages where necessary. The ML Cup has been around since Season 2, and also took place in Season 3, although it was disbanded between Season 4 to Season 10. The ML Cup has become a mainstay of the group since its return, and has taken place in every single season bar Season 25, when games were officially stopped. The Champions Cup was another tournament that ran from Season 10 to Season 25, which traditionally contained the top three teams from all three leagues as well as the winner of the competition from the previous season. The Champions Cup begins with a group stage format before developing into a straight knockout system afterwards. Managerial Life has also featured side tournaments and special one-off games in the past, such as: * Best of the Rest Cup * ML Shield * Super Cup Champions Below are the winners of Managerial Life's tournaments up until Season 25. Note that the Championship and League 1 are not included. ML Premiership *The Kings Cup was a tournament that took place in Season 1. In order to decide which teams qualified for the leagues in Season 2, two qualification leagues - named League A and League B were put in place during Season 1. The top two teams from both League A and League B then went into a four team knockout cup at the end of the season to decide the overall 'Champion' of the Season. ML Cup Champions Cup Minor Trophies Best of the Rest Cup Super Cup ML Shield